IDSA and others sent letters to congressional appropriations committee leaders urging them to establish NCATS in the FY 2012 appropriations bill to move high-need medical cures through the development pipeline faster.

A coalition of medical societies sent a letter to U.S. Senators supporting its investment in Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER). The coalition urges the Senate to maintain its investment in CER so that physicians can continue to rely on evidence-based medicine to provide quality care to its patients.

IDSA joined other organizations in support of new legislation to support public health capacity to identify and monitor the occurrence of infectious diseases and other conditions of public health importance, including laboratory capacity to detect antimicrobial resistant infections; and to improve electronic disease surveillance and reporting.

IDSA and HIVMA call on the presidential candidates to promote a science-based approach to public health policy, including immunization safety, sexuality education programs, access to clean syringes and needles for injecting drug users, and diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease.

A bill introduced by Senate Finance Committee leaders Charles Grassley and Max Baucus would advance medical research into antimicrobial resistance and other areas by providing federal health officials and other health researchers with controlled access to data on physician and prescription drug claims processed on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries.

IDSA signed onto a letter that was sent to Senators Cornyn, Lieberman, and Collins expressing concern that the Act will negatively impact the journal article peer-review process and erode the ability of not-for-profit societies to provide services to the public and scientific community.